


A Bird in Hand

by Silverheart



Series: Bats and Birds [7]
Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 20:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4536975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverheart/pseuds/Silverheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It could be worse.</p><p>He could remember just how badly Batman beat his mind-controlled ass.</p><p>(Set after Tim's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night during Arkham City Lockdown.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bird in Hand

Tim threw an arm over his eyes, trying to block out the light. 

He felt like he’d gone out drinking with Dick again. His head was pounding, his mouth was bone dry, and the sunlight hurt so much.

Someone poked him hard in the arm. “Wake up, you idiot.” Even when he felt like the living dead, he recognized Barb’s voice.

He groaned and turned away from the assault—which sent a wave of bruises complaining. What may have been some cracked ribs started to howl, too. “What did we do last night?” he mumbled into the pillow.

“You tried to take Ivy by yourself.” 

He sat up at that—or attempted to. It didn’t go well and he had to lay back down immediately. The sun was still too much and he had to shut his eyes. He frowned, trying to piece together what he could of last night. “Yeah,” he said, “Yeah, I went in to catch her. She’s powerful but takes her time—catch her before she makes a move and it’s not too hard a fight.” 

Barb poked him again. She could make that very painful, especially when he wasn’t wearing armor. It seemed like she was hitting a bruise, too. He opened one eye to glare at her. “She had already made her move by the time you got there. She created some sort of spore that turns men into her slaves.”

He thought about the concept, keeping an eye on Barbara. He had to squint because it hurt, but she did not look happy with him at all. “That’s stupid,” he said, “She’d have to synthesize some kind of…probably cordyceps variation that could subvert the human nervous system...and if it only affected men it would have to...” Barb got ready to poke him again. He shut up. 

“For someone so smart, you are a complete idiot. _She took control of you_. Or did you _want_ to be beaten senseless by Batman?”

Tim opened both eyes. A hazy memory of a fight was coming back to him. Facing off with Batman, out in the open…that would have been very stupid. He’d imagined doing it, and winning, when he was younger and in training, but actually doing it…no, Tim liked to think he was too smart for that. “That _would_ explain why I hurt so much.” He looked down at himself. Someone had removed his uniform. Since they looked to be in the clocktower apartment, it had probably been Barb. 

His torso was covered in bruises. Gingerly he reached up and felt out a particularly tender spot on his scalp. “Please tell me I got at least one good hit in.”

“You’re beat up enough to reveal your inner nerd, so I think I’ll leave you your pride.” She rolled away and came back with a glass of water. “Here. When he dropped you off, Bruce said that the antidote would leave you with the worst hangover you’d ever had.”

He eased himself slowly up and took the glass from her gratefully. “No kidding.” He drained half the water without putting it down. “He dropped me here, then?”

“He had a long night. Ivy wasn’t the only one on the loose.”

Tim finished the rest of the water. She went to refill it. He carefully poked at his ribs. If they were cracked, there wasn’t anything to do but take it easy and wait for them to heal.

There were worse places to do that than in Oracle’s bed, but he was not going to say that aloud today. 

“I could have taken her,” he said as he accepted the now full glass of water from Barb, “I _have_.”

She leveled him with a fearsome stare. “In case you’ve forgotten, all it takes is one misstep and it’s all over.”

“Alright, alright. It’s okay now.”

“Tim…just…you know these people can do awful things. Don’t let that be you, okay?”

“I promise.”

She sighed. “The worst part is I know you do, but we don’t always have a choice, do we?” He didn’t answer. “I’ve got work to do, so you’re going to stay put until I’m done.” She eyed his torso, partly with concern and partly with...Tim grinned to himself. “You are very heavy. It was a lot of work for your girlfriend _in her wheelchair_ to get your unconscious body into that bed and out of your suit. I’m not doing that again. You can just stay passed out on the floor in puddle of your own drool.”

He slid a hand under her chin and gave her a brief, deep kiss. “As the lady orders, so it shall be.”

She blushed and rolled her eyes at the same time. “It had better.” Before he could steal another kiss, she had headed to her computer. 

Well, Tim thought as he finished his water, it could be worse. First of all, he had no real memory of how badly he’d lost the fight. Second, Bruce wasn’t here to lecture him. Third, Ivy was back in Arkham. Best—he watched Barbara peer at her screen in concentration— he had a very good looking nurse.


End file.
